Nightmare
by aemelia113
Summary: Adrien can't escape the guilt of what he almost did to his partner, the girl he loves, even in his sleep. He goes for a run as Chat Noir and happens upon a friend who is battling nighttime demons, too. Light Marichat, rated T for description of death. Based on the comic by the talented typosanderrors on tumblr. Or, at least I think that's the artist. Correct me if I'm wrong, please


**Brief A/N: For those of you who follow me basically for my "Summoned" fic, I truly apologize for not updating that one, but the muses for that one are being uncooperative. I'm going to officially name this as a hiatus for that story. I will be posting other sorts of fics in the meantime, though, so if you share another fandom with me besides DP, you will not be without new stories. If you don't, I'm sorry, but the wheels are spinning in the mud for "Summoned," but I haven't given up on it. Anyway, most of you probably came to read a Miraculous Ladybug fic, so onwards and upwards!**

 **Nightmare**

It happened like it always did, playing in my head like a disjointed movie cobbled together from fragments of memory and video clips from the Ladyblog.

She was running. Running from me. She looked terrified, and with good reason. The words that came out of my mouth were scary.

"I've always wondered what would happen if I used Cataclysm on a person. You know us cats, always curious."

She was running, fighting, dodging, more desperate than she'd ever been to escape my touch.

I pinned her to the ground. I caressed her face with my claws, pressing just hard enough to leave fine scratches across her pale cheek. Her bluebell eyes pricked with tears. I turned her head to look at her miraculous, made some comment about how pleased Hawk Moth would be.

Then she surprised me. She smiled. She reached up and grabbed my face between her hands, smashing her lips onto my black ones.

Without hardly knowing what I was doing, I kissed back. My head tilted and warm honey in my veins melted the hatred put there by Dark Cupid. I relaxed and let myself enjoy finally- _finally_ kissing my Lady.

She broke the contact and let her head fall back. She was smiling, but it was full of pain.

"You saved me," I told her.

Her breath hitched and she looked up at me with teary eyes. "You really loved me, didn't you Chat Noir?"

"What's with the past tense, Bugaboo? You know I love you. Always have, always will," I replied with a smile.

Her gaze turned accusatory, condemning.

"Then how could you let this happen?" she croaked brokenly.

"Let what happen, LB?"

I tightened my grip on her waist in concern.

My grip... with my right hand. The hand that had summoned Cataclysm.

 _No. No. No, no, no, no, no, no..._

I hardly dared to look. But I moved my fatal claws away from her side and revealed a gaping wound bubbling black and red. It was quickly eating away into her flesh, until it was a hole bigger than my fist yawning under her ribs.

"How could you do this to me?" she sobbed.

"I didn't mean to! Ladybug, I'm so sorry. It was an accident- I didn't mean to!" I cried out.

"Liar," she hissed.

The wound bubbled bigger, festering and growing until it had dissolved most of her lower torso and half her legs. The puddle of red around us spread.

 _No, no, no, no, no- nononononononononono!_

The poison crept up into her face, turning the veins black. I held her in my arms, but there was really only her head and shoulders left. She glared at me with her sky blue eyes full of blame and those eyes were the last thing to disappear.

Suddenly, I was only holding a skeleton. The bones crumbled to ash and blew away so that I was only holding her skull in my hands.

I felt hollow, cold. What had I done? What had I done?

The skull suddenly moaned through barely parted jaws, " _Your bad luck killed me, Chat_."

I screamed loud enough to wake the dead, or at least loud enough to wake myself.

I sat up violently from the dream gasping like a drowning man. My nerve endings blazed with panic and buzzing horror. The sheets were soaked with sweat and so was I. I rubbed at the drops on my face only to discover that they weren't sweat but tears, streaming down my cheeks.

I buried my head between my knees and muffled my sobs as best I could. It wasn't like anyone was around to hear, or would care if they were, but the need to keep up appearances of perfection was ingrained too deep.

I hardly looked like perfection now, I imagined. As I caught my breath in wet hiccups, aching chest heaving, I stood and walked to the mirror to confirm. My eyes were red and swollen, nose running, tears rolling off my chin down to my collarbone. My face was splotchy and my body was trembling, still damp with perspiration. I was a mess. Mechanically, I scrubbed away the evidence of the moment of emotional weakness.

Adrien Agreste wasn't allowed to break down.

These nightmares had tormented me ever since I found out what I almost did to my Lady. She didn't tell me, wanting to spare my feelings, but I found out. I could have killed her. My partner. The girl I loved. The guilt was inescapable, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to try.

I called Plagg to transform me. He came out of whatever corner he usually hid in during my nightmares. He wasn't very good at handling emotions. I didn't mind. I wasn't sure kwami understood the concept of nightmares anyway.

I ran along the rooftops as fast as my legs could carry me, heart pounding in rhythm with my footfalls, trying to make the wind tearing at my suit blow through me and freeze all of the turmoil going on in my chest. I didn't mean for them to, but my legs carried me to Marinette's house. Ever since the time we practiced gaming in her room, the place had felt more like home than Agreste Manor ever had. Her parents were so attentive and warm that she found it annoying, but I'd have given anything for my father to constantly try to push baked goods on me and take an interest in my friends. I'd settle for him eating breakfast with me once in a while.

I stood awkwardly on the rooftop across from hers, wondering where I could run to next, half tempted to stay and try to soak up the cozy atmosphere by proximity. I had just decided to go when the trapdoor flung open and Marinette stumbled out, chest heaving for breath, looking half-sick. She leaned over the balcony, shoulders shuddering. I was alarmed. What had happened? Was she upset enough to go akuma?

"Princess? What's wrong?" I asked, dropping down behind her.

She stiffened, then wiped at her eyes savagely. When she turned to me, she was smiling in a way that looked almost real, only the red in her eyes and a subtle sniffle giving her away.

"Hi, kitty. Didn't expect you to be out so late. Solo patrol?"

"Marinette. You can tell me, you know? I'm not just the pun guy. I can be a good listener, too," I said softly.

"It's not that. I just- didn't want to burden you. Or anybody, really. It was only a nightmare. I'm fine," she insisted.

"Me too," I admitted without realizing I was doing it until I was done.

"The hero of Paris has nightmares?"

"Sometimes. A lot of the time. Just one, though."

"Me too. The same one, over and over," she sighed.

"You want to talk about it?" I offered.

"Only if you go first," she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest self-consciously.

"Okay," I agreed. If it would help her, I could do it. She was my friend. "I have nightmares about that time Dark Cupid shot me and I almost used Cataclysm on Ladybug. She's my partner, one of my best friends, the girl I love, and I almost killed her. In the dream, I kiss her but my claws brush her side by accident and she dissolves into nothing right in front of me. The worst part is that she despises me for hurting her like that. She dies in my arms hating my guts and I know I deserve it because it's all my fault."

There was a moment of tense silence. Marinette stepped closer and rested a hand on my shoulder.

"Wow. I didn't know that you felt so awful about that. I mean, it makes sense, but it just never occurred to me. But you didn't really hurt Ladybug. She doesn't hate you."

"You haven't seen how she shoves me away when I try to tell her how I feel," I said sadly.

Marinette looked forlornly at me for a moment then slipped her hand in mine. She looked away and mumbled under her breath, "My nightmare is about Volpina."

"Volpina? But you weren't even there," I protested.

"But I was. I saw the whole scene at the Eiffel Tower from the ground. I saw my classmate, Adrien Agreste, dangling from her hand. She was shaking him and threatening to let him fall. I was terrified. We're not really close, and that's my fault since I can't just talk to him like a person- I turn into a total mess around him- but I still care about him a lot. He's my friend, and I was so scared that he was going to die. I know it all wound up being an illusion, but I didn't know that at the time. In the dream, she drops him, Ladybug fumbles him right through her fingers, you're too far away to reach, and he falls right at my feet. I saw someone jump, once," she admitted. "It gave me plenty of nightmare fuel for what it would look like if the real Adrien had really fallen. It- it's not pretty. I see him turn to me and reach for me and then just- the light goes out of his eyes. And I- I wake up screaming, but then I remember that it was never real. I'm so relieved that he's alive, he's okay. It was just a nightmare. The school day will come and go, and he'll barely notice I'm there, but I'm just glad that he's happy. That he's alright."

I was speechless. I had no idea that Marinette cared about me in my civilian identity so much. She always seemed sort of afraid of me. But I knew now that she did care, that she wanted me safe and happy. That the mere idea that I almost wasn't gave her nightmares. She wanted me to see her, believed that I didn't.

"Princess, no disrespect to your friends, but he has to be the biggest idiot in the world to not see you," I murmured.

"Thanks, kitty," she mumbled in reply.

We stood in silence on her balcony for a long while, holding hands. Then she did the strangest thing. She invited me in.

"You've told me before that your house gets lonely. I don't think you really need lonely right now," she told me by way of explanation.

My heart swelled. "With pleasure, Princess," I purred.

We curled up together on her bed, me on top of the covers. We snuggled close and I buried my face in her hair, breathing in her cookie and flower scent. It was weirdly calming. She broke the silence suddenly.

"You know, if you ever have another nightmare and need someone to be around, I'm here, and I'm probably awake, too. I leave the roof hatch unlocked, but please knock first. The door's always open," Marinette offered.

"I'd like that."

"Me too. Goodnight, kitty cat."

"Goodnight, Princess," I purred.

We fell asleep together, neither one plagued by another nightmare that night, not with a barrier of tender warmth and mutual compassion to guard us against such ills.


End file.
